Tamper control mechanism



July 19, 1932 H. C. PARKER TAMPER CONTROL MEQHANISM Filed Nov. 10. 1927 INVENTOR Henr Pdf/f/T U AT ORNEY Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT oF I-CE 1 HENRY PARKER OFFIMAYWOOD' W JERSEY, ASSIGNOR 'ro BERGEN BUILDING BLOCK COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0E NEW JERSEY x mg ceases.

v hammers.

TAMPER CONTROL MECHANISM Application filed November 10, 1927. Serial No; 232,267.

The present invention relates to improve.- ments in tamping machines, such, for example, as are used in concrete block manufacture. In one type of concrete block machine employing the tamping principle, a mold box have made a certain number of strokes, de-

pending on the type of the block being made and the nature of the concrete, they are arrested by operation ofa lever and the tamp- The strength of the concrete block depends to a large extent on the number of times the concrete is struck by the hammers. It is customary to pay the operatives on a piece-work basis and, hence, they are interested in making the blocks as fast as possible, with the result that they are apt to reduce the number of ta-mping strokes below that necessary or desirable, and it is a source of constant annoyance to the foreman or supervisor to watch the operators and make sure that the correct number of tamp- 7 ing strokes are given to each block.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome this difliculty by providing means which will automatically prevent arresting of the tamping operations until the requisite number of strokes have beenmade bv the Another object of the inventionis to. provide means for expediting the operation of the tamping mechanism. Heretoforeit has been necessary not only to turn on the tamping mechanism by hand but alsoto turnit off manually. With my improved control mechanism, the tamping mechanism may be automatically turned off after the requisite number of tamping strokes have been delivered.

Another object of the invention 18 to provide a mechanism for controlling thenumber of tamping strokes, which mechanismis in the form of an attachment that can .be

applied to existing machines.

7 With these and other objects inview, which will appear hereinafter, a preferred embodistruction c a Fig. 2 is a rear elevation .of the sameyand ment of the invention=will now be described and thereafter the novelty and scope of the invention will be defined in the claims. a

' In the accompanying drawing, V

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a 1 tamping Xmachine equipped with the improved control mechanism, certain-parts belng-broken away to illustrate details of con- Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the tamping and control mechanism; with brackets and supports therefor removed and showing the parts in operative position. A

The main frame of the. tamping machine is rectangular in form, comprising a pair of vertical frame members 10 and top and bottom horizontal members '11 and 12, respectively. Mounted to slide through the members 11 and 12 are vertical tamping rods 13? which carry hammers 14 at their lower ends. Each tamping rod carries a lifting finger15 which projects forward and is provided at the rear with a forked extension 16 adapted to embrace a vertical guide rod 17 ,The guide rods 17 are supported at their upper ends inthe frame member. 11 and at their lower ends bya cross bar 18. i A transverse shaft 19 is supported in suitable bearings 20 carried by the vertical frame members 101and' fixed to this shaft are a number of arms 21,

each provided at its free end with a roller 22. There is an arm for each lifter finger 15 and the position of the arms is such as to strike the lifter fingers and lift the rods to the position indicated in Fig. 1. The arms 21 are'angularlydisposed relatively to one another so that the rods 13 will be successively lifted; 7

Each rod carries at the top frame member 11 and" prevent the its upper end a safety collar 23 adapted to engage a'spring 23 at rod from dropping out of theframe should a a there be no mold under the hammers. Normally therods are maintained in-the position;

shown in-the drawingby means of levers-24 which engage collars 25 secured to therods; I Each lever 21is of bell-crank form having a laterally projecting arm' 2 6 The levers are mounted a: rocker bar g which extends across the frame and is formed with trunnions 28 at, each end journaled in the side members 10. One of the trunnions extends through the frame and has a handle 29 fixed thereto, by which the bar 27 maybe rocked. The rocker bar 27 is preferably inthe form of a right angle'in cross-section with one flange'of the bar servingfto support the arm.

handle '29 is raised, swinging the arms 24 clear ofthe stop collars 25'and permitting the rods 23 to drop. Thereupon the arms 21' successively raise the rods, by engaging the finge'rs 15, and permit the rods to drop as therollers 22 roll off the ends of the fingers.

This operation continues until the operator lowers the handle 29, pressing the lever arms .24 against the rods. Thereafter as each rod israised by its arm 21, the rod is thrown far enough by its momentum for finger 15 to clear the roller 22 and, in this position, the corresponding lever arm 24sn'aps under a top collar 2'5-arresting the rodin its raised position. r

' My control mechanism; is carried in the main by a bracket 31 whichis attached to one, of the side members 10 and to the cross bar 18. This bracket is formed with a pair of flanges which provide bearingsfor. a shaft 32'. Attached to .the rocker bar 27 by any suitable means is a bracket 33 which provides a pivotal support for the lower end of an arm 34, the upper end of which is forked to Tembrace'the hub of a disk 37 mounted on the shaft 32. The hubris preferably formed with an annular grooveto receive-the forked end of the armfi Mounted on this arm 34 is a pinroller'35 which normally engages a notch 36 in thedis k137. The latter is pinned to the.

shaft 32. Attached to the bracket 31 are two bracket extensions 38 and 39, respectively,

whi'chprovide bearings for ashaft 40. Fixed upon the shaft 4Q is apulley 41 and a pinion 42. The latter meshes with a gear 43 secured to the shaft '32. A loose endless belt44 runs about the pulley 4 1; and shaft '19. Normally the shaft turns idlyin the belt without turning the pulley, but, when it is desired-to actu-- ate the pulley, a belt tightener is operated.

.This .belt tigh tener consists of an idler 45 mounted on the end of an arm 46,'the opposite end of which is pivotally supported by V 47' "serves to connect'the arm 46 with the parml the bracket extension 39'. A 'connecting rod a, Infop'erationfwhen the handle 29' is lifted torelease the tampingroda lthe arm ":34 is V A V lowered so that the 'roller'35sclearsthe notch notch to "release the dls'k, and the arrestorr' ent is:

36 in the disk 37. At the same time the idler 45 is drawn down, by means of the connecting r0d47, to take up the slack in the belt 44', thereby causing the pulley 41 to be driven by the shaft 19. By this means, the shaft 38 is rotated and, through the pinion and gear connection, the shaft 32 is also rotated. As rotation'occurs, the disk 37 revolves so that the notch36 no longer registerswiththe roller 35. This preventsfthe arm 34from rising and'th'e levers 24 from moving into position to engage the collars 25, until the disk has'nia'd'eone complete rotation. The

tamping will, therefore, continue until the notch 36 has been brought around to position for the roller 37 to enter thereinagain, which it wi'll do automatically under impulse of the y i mined number of tamping strokes for each operation ofthe'machin'e: The disk 37 may also be provided with av number of notches '36 so angularly spaced as to limit the tamping period to a fraction of the period of ro- 'tation of the disk. 1 T I- While I have described my. tamping control mechanism as applied to a specific machine, it will be obvious that the same principle could be employed with other types of tamping machines and also that the same system of control could be used in connection with the machines thatare not necessarily employed in concrete block manufacture. I, therefore,'do not limit myself to the specific adaptation described nor tothe specific construction shown, but consider myself at liberty to make such variations, alterations, modifications and arrangements of structure and parts as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. I j 1 7 Having thus described my invention, what "I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat'- 1. The combination. with a'tamping niachine comprising a tampingmember, a power shaft, means: carried i by the; shaft 7 for intermittently lifting and releasing the tamping member, an arrestor for holding the-tamp-i ing member clear ofsaid means and a-handle for disengaging the arrestor. from thevta'mping member, of a spring tendingfto restore I the arrestor toholdingi position, "a 'disk nonpositively rotated by said shaft and formed:

with a, peripheral notch, and anar'm connected to the handle andnormally engaging dlej the "armwin-be withdrawn friomfhe the notch, whereby, on'operation of l'theshan- 5 disengaged by the arm until thedisk has will be held in disengaged position'until the disk has rotated sufliciently to bring the notch again into position to receive the arm.

2. The combination with a tamping machine comprising a tamping member, a power shaft, means carried by the shaft for intermittently lifting and releasing. the tamping means, an arrestor for holding the tamping member clear of said means, and a handle for disengaging the arrestor from the tamping member, of a spring tending to restore the arrestor to holding position, a rotatable disk, driving gear including a friction clutch connecting shaft and the disk for driving the latter, the disk being formed with a peripheral notch, an arm connected to the handle and having a pin normally engaging the notch, whereby on operation of the handle the pin will be withdrawn fromthe notch, and means connected with the arm for operating the friction clutch when .the arm is withdrawn from the notch, the arrangement being such that the arm will be held in withdrawn position by the disk and the arrestor will be held made one complete rotation returning the notch to position to receive the pin.

3. The combination with a tamping machine comprising a tamping member, a power shaft, means carried by the shaft for intermittently lifting and releasing the tamping member, an arrestor for holding the tamping member clear of said means, and a handle for releasing the arrestor from the tamping member, of a spring tending to restore the arrestor to holding position, a rotatable disk, driving means including a normallyloose belt connecting the disk and the shaft for driving the disk, means for tightening said belt, the disk being formed witha peripheral notch, an arm connected to the handle and having a pin normally engaging the notch and a link connecting the belt tightening means to the arm, the parts being so arranged that, when the handle is operated 1 to release the arrestor, the, arm will operate to withdraw the pin from the notch and the belt tightener will be operated to cause rotation of the disk thereby preventing return,

of the handle and the arrestor to normal posi tion until the notch has been brought to position to receive the pin. 7

4:. The combination with a tamping machine having a tamper, means for operating the same, an arrestor for holding the tamper in inoperative position and means controllable at willfor withdrawing the arrestor to permit the tamper to operate, of means for preventing return of said arrestor to holding position except at predetermined periods after the Withdrawal of the arrestor.

5. The combination with a tamping machine having a tamping member, means for operating same, an arrestor for holding the tamper in inoperative positlon and means operable at will for withdrawing the arrestor to permit the, tamper to operate, of means for holding the arrestor in withdrawn posi tion for a predetermined interval measured from-the time of the withdrawal of the arrestor. r 1

6. The combination with a tamping. machine having a tamping member, means for operating said member, an arrestor for holding said member in inoperative position and manually controlled means for withdrawing the arrestor, of means tending normally to return the arrestor,'retaining means for preventing return of the arrestor to holding position until it has remained in the withdrawn position for a predetermined interval and means for releasing the retaining means as soon as said interval has elapsed.

7. The combination with a tamping machine comprising a tamping member, lifting means for intermittently lifting and releasing the tamping member, adetent for holding the tamping member clear of said means and a handle operable atwill to disengage the detent from the tamping member, of a latch for holding the detent in disengaged position, 4

and means operating to release the latch at a predetermined time after the detent has been disengaged. V V v 8. The combination with a tamping machine comprising a tamping member, a lift- 7 ing means for intermittently lifting and resaid attachment'comprising means to prevent operation of said device to stop the tamper except at predetermined intervals after. said device has been manually operated to start the tamper. y

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

HENRY o. PARKER. V V 1' 

